No-code and low-code tools: levers to facilitate process automation.

Concrete cases of tasks to be automated with no-code, for a successful digital transformation.

What is business automation?

Automating tasks in a company means delegating all repetitive and non-value added actions to computers rather than to your teams. In the short term, the goal is to free up more time to focus on more complex tasks such as project management, customer care, etc. In the long term, an automated digital strategy is a way to gain productivity, reduce costs, improve transparency and information flow, and better manage your teams and projects.

No-code and low-code tools, levers to facilitate process automation.

Small and medium-sized enterprises were initially the most marginalised by the arrival of artificial intelligence, in particular because of the high cost of the technologies involved. Today the situation has changed, and this is partly due to the development of "no-code" tools that open up access to automation for these smaller structures.

What are the benefits of automation software for your digital transformation?

Whether it is for your CRM, your management tool, your communication tool, etc., automated workflows allow you to monitor in real time the progress of your projects, the tasks of each employee, the time spent on each of them, the performance of your prospecting campaigns, etc. This is an optimal way to react in real time and optimise each action taken. These automations are, for example, a way of :

- Prioritise tasks by structuring and qualifying your leads according to their source and relevance.

- Improve your customer follow-up, by defining levels of importance on each request, each project.

- Support your sales staff by feeding your prospect files, by developing real-time customer follow-up, by integrating your transactions into your CRM, etc.

- Save time, e.g. by reducing the number of times you have to go back and forth between people before making an appointment, by making it easier to find and share company documents, by automating recurring emails.  

- Reduce errors by automatically qualifying your prospects, monitoring the progress of your projects, etc.    

The technical barrier has been lifted to make way for intuitive and easy-to-use no-code interfaces. Any business team can now autonomously set up and customise workflows, sometimes on an individual basis. We sometimes speak of "low-code" when minimal developer intervention is required.

How do automated workflows work?

The idea is to start with a trigger, which will trigger a series of actions without you having to intervene. Once you have identified the trigger, all you have to do is assemble the applications where events must occur one by one.

Workflows can be as simple as sending you an email notification when someone contacts you from your website. But it is possible to go much further in these operational workflows by assembling a large set of tools: new lead from Waalaxy that is enriched with Dropcontact, sent to your CRM such as Airtable, then integrated to a Sendinblue emailing campaign, notified to the sales team by connecting Webflow and slack with Integromat, etc.

Integromat, Zapier, Automate.io, ... Which no-code tool should I use to automate my business processes?

It can be difficult to choose between all the automation tools on the market, which often have similar offerings. Here are some recommendations to help you select the best no-code tool for your company.

Identify the number of tasks to be automated

Some automation tools such as Zapier will vary the price according to the number of strings programmed. Make a point on the number of recurring tasks you want to automate, keeping in mind that for each string, a trigger is associated with a single account. On the other hand, the resulting actions can act on several other accounts. For example, if you want to receive a notification for each message sent from the contact form on your site, the trigger will be the only email address programmed on the contact form, but notifications can be sent to several different email addresses. Here is a method to connect your webflow forms with your enterprise nocode tools.

Analyse the complexity of automation processes

The cost of your tool can change according to the complexity of your chains, or the amount of data transferred. It is therefore important to carry out a diagnosis of the actions to be taken for each of your workflows. To take the previous example, the more steps you add following the reception of a message from your site, the more complex the chain will be and the greater the quantity of data transferred.

Choose your tool according to your company's digital skills

Software such as Integromat sometimes requires low-code knowledge for more complex automation. Consider the technical skills of your staff before choosing your tool. If your computer skills are limited, there are many online resources to help you program your chains. You will find for example in our blog tutorials on how to connect Webflow to Integromat or to other nocode tools.

User experience and tool interface

Most of these programs offer a simplified and intuitive user experience. The preferences of the web interface are therefore very subjective. Some tools such as Integromat or IFTTT also offer mobile applications that allow you to work on more advanced automation processes.

Check the integrations available on your automation tool

The difference in price from one software package to another is sometimes very significant. This can be explained by the amount of integration offered. For example, Zapier stands out from its competitors with almost 2000 applications available. Other platforms such as Integromat allow, via low-code, to create automated processes without the application being integrated into the tool. In other words, if you have advanced computer skills, you can create complex chains linking any of your tools.

Developing effective sales follow-up through automation

Manual contact, reminders, copying data from one tool to another, CRM updates, etc. The no-code can put an end to this list of tasks by acting as a commercial right-hand man throughout the sales process. Learn more about automated prospecting.

Simplify customer contact and appointments

Making quick appointments with your teams can be done in just a few clicks. Computer tools such as Calendly allow you to set up your shared diaries according to jobs, activities, availability, time slots, etc.  

Gather information about your prospects

Automate the flow from your website to your database: connect Webflow and Integromat. Contact forms, quote requests, online tests, newsletter subscriptions, these are all effective resources for obtaining information about your prospects. Data feeds from tools such as Jotform, Typeform or Joonbot can be automatically sorted, enriched, qualified and even attributed to members of your company.

Automatically generate quotes

The no-code now allows you to automate the creation and sending of quotations in a very complete way. Drafting, sending, electronic signature, everything can be programmed so that the estimate meets precise criteria of price, product, deadlines, etc. This is a way of increasing the number of quotations sent without it being a burden for the teams.  

Improve your prospecting and follow up

Create customised notification scenarios based on team members, access levels, preferred media (email, slack, teams, sms, etc.), etc. The entire team is automatically informed of the progress of projects, the arrival of new leads, or the assignment of new tasks. Tools like Notion, Coda.io or Airtable allow you to automate these flows.

Reduce the time needed to draw up your contracts

Several solutions can be used to automate the creation and sending of contracts. For example, workflows can be used to reduce the number of round trips between different departments, avoid the need to copy information or obtain modifications in real time.

Automatically transfer data between your tools

There are many processes that require data to be copied. Opening a customer account sometimes requires opening an account in the ERP, then in the CRM, then in the production module, etc. With automation, only one data collection is needed to update all your tools. Fill in documents, share sales data, technical data sheets, etc. As you can see, the stakes of automation are high and the possibilities numerous.  

Track your team's key KPIs

Once your tools are interconnected, you can easily get an overview of your teams' performance. Tools such as Google Data Studio or Geckoboar allow you to create customised dashboards, bringing together all your data. The results of your campaigns, the time spent on your projects, the performance of your sales staff, everything is updated in real time to give you greater agility in your development.

Automation of tasks with Digidop

At Digidop, we automate mainly with Integromat and Zapier. We conceptualize and program workflows adapted to the needs of our customers.

We chose Zapier, first of all because its automation offers a very good simplicity/efficiency ratio. This is a considerable advantage for quickly training our customers and making them autonomous on the main functionalities of this tool.

Integromat allows us to create more advanced chains with a much more interesting quantity/price ratio. In addition, the results of our queries are sometimes much more precise and ensure an equally effective result.

Discover the no-code tool stack from Digidop!